Hallyu star actress Lee Young-Ae (1971) topped the list in Hong Kong for Woman of the Year in 2005. On December 31st, RTHK, a public network in Hong Kong, released the results of a mail-based poll of 1,398 citizens. It showed Lee Young-ae, the lead actress of the soap opera Jewel in the Palace (Dae Jang Geum), atop the list with 49 percent of the votes.Lee was chosen as the Woman of the Year in 2005 by far outdistancing the second place choice, an elderly woman named Lu Shaolan (21 percent), who became famous for filing a lawsuit against a giant real estate corporation.

Jewel in the Palace aired on Hong Kong’s TVB from January 24th to May 1st, hitting an all-time high in viewership rates (average rate of 47 percent and a high of 50 percent) in the history of Hong Kong TV broadcasting.

It is estimated that 3.28 million Hong Kong residents, or half of the entire population of the city, watched the drama. The Hong Kong daily Ming Bao chose Jewel in the Palace as the TV drama of the year.

Meanwhile, pop singer Rain ranked second as the Man of the Year in 2005 with 22 percent of the votes following Donald Tsang, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive (33 percent). The late Pope John Paul II, who died in April 2005, ranked third with 13 percent of the votes.

Source:
China Daily 3 Jan 06

Some selected Lee Young-Ae links:
Lee Young-Ae Official Homepage
Lee Young-Ae Fanpage
Lee Young-Ae Fanpage (Japanese)

Yen Hoang, Playboy’s Cybergirl of April 2005, is featured in Playboy’s Vixens of Feb/Mar 2006 (Photography: George Georgiou).

Recently elected as Most Popular Asian Siren of 2005 Tiara Lestar seems to be back! She has a new blog entry on how she spent some time on Bali.

Just a few months after Tiara Lestari’s groundbreaking photoshoots, Playboy has now invited the relatively unknown Indonesian sinetron actress and model Indah Ludiana to the US to bare her considerable charms. And the good news is that she’s accepted according to IndCoup (thanks to hotbytes).

Unfortunately though it may be a few months before the pictures become available. And even worse, I couldn’t find any additional information on Indah Ludiana. Who knows this model and can help us to find more info or pictures?

Pirated DVD copies of Memoirs of a Geisha, based on the international best-selling novel, are reportedly already on sale in China more than a month before its release in local cinemas.Various pirated copies of the film, which was released in Japan and the United States earlier this month, were on offer in the southern Chinese boomtown of Shenzhen, the Hong-Kong based Apple Daily newspaper reported.

The report said the quality of both the DVDs and the Chinese subtitles was rather poor, as most were recorded straight in the cinemas.

“Memoirs of a Geisha” tells the story of a Japanese girl from a poor fishing village who is sold to a geisha house and goes on to romance a rich businessman.

It is based on Arthur Golden’s 1997 novel, which sold more than four million copies in English and was translated into 32 languages.

The film, co-produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Chinese actresses Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li alongside Malaysia’s Michelle Yeoh, will be released in China on February 9 and in Hong Kong on January 12.

Source:
http://news.sawf.org/

See also:
Eugenia Yuan: Playboy Babe of the Month
Eugenia Yuan

Not only at Asian Sex Gazette and Fleshbot, also at Asian Sirens Tiara Lestar (aka Amara) was the Most Popular of 2005. Her debuting article, for example, was read by more than 100.000 readers.

Wish you all the best for 2006!